I’ve always been firm believer that if you’re going to do something go all in so in a sense I have to give self described “hack” Todd Lihou credit, but there’s a certain disclosure in his editorial in this week’s tiny 28 page release of TC media’s Seaway News.
Mr. Lihou seems to have a near Brock Frost like obsession with yours truly and his behavior highlights the culture in our city that has so many leaving and even more refusing to visit or settle.
You see, as an filmmaker and artist myself I am affiliated with TAG Cornwall, our city’s only public art gallery. Very few business or entities have survived as long as the 29 that our art gallery have on Pitt Street yet here is a media company like TC media allowing Mr. Lihou to wage his banal petty tantrum against myself and CFN at the expense of our city’s only true art institution.
Only in Cornwall. You see it’s not Mr. Lihou’s words, but the seeming free pass that he gets from his associates and co-workers.
In his editorial Lihou guffaws at how Councilor Claude MacIntosh was reading the Cornwall Living magazine (a shameless plug for the TC Media product subsidized via Bob Peters and Economic Development of the City of Cornwall) during the gallery’s update to council.
Could you imagine if a councilor did that during a presentation from the United Way or any other presentation? Honestly? That’s the same kind of utter disrespect that gets applause by the kind of people that cheer on those that still brag in our city about bullying Ryan Gosling when he went to school here.
Is it any wonder that Cornwall loses millions of dollars in free tag along publicity as Ryan’s career blooms?
Mr. Lihou’s complaint this week was our presentation to council; calling it a “commercial.”
Any group or individual can ask council for up to ten minutes to present info. TAG was not welcomed with open arms. We in fact were sorta jerked around for a few months before given our slot.
We shared at the great success we’ve had this year in cleaning up the gallery, how we updated our charter, rolled out a new membership structure, added our Artist Guild, and still had programming while our funding was cut to zero.
We also increased every measurable metric from attendence to earned revenue from art sales all while going through a major board transition, the end of long tenure of our executive director (who we wish well in her future endeavors) and managed to keep the doors open.
The Seaway News has hacked at the Gallery since I joined its board even while we purchased advertising from them. During the Apples and Art festival they covered two venues within a block of the gallery while omitting the gallery even though we probably were one of the busiest venues of the event.
TAG was asked why we purchased an ad for our Aislin show and our answer is that like any media it’s about the viewers and not who is writing there or who we like or don’t like.
Frankly city council is about the public. It’s for the public, and instead of complaining about sitting at the media table having to listen to a presentation we should see more groups and real issues covered at council.
That Councilor MacIntosh still works for the Seaway News is troubling enough as many have cited inside info that the outlet could only have had via internal leak. The optics are hinky.
All one has to do is pull up Mr. Lihou’s coverage of the mayorlty race that this scribbler ran in as well as his coverage of my false police charges here in the city, or the conflict of interest application against the mayor and two councilors, and you don’t have to be as smart as Mr. Lihou to see a clear,obvious, and consistent prejudice.
IF the gallery would close from the impact of this petty, childish, and utterly unprofessional behavior would that improve our city? Would it help the arts locally? One of the big problems we have in Cornwall is this type of thinking and behavior by people like Mr. Lihou, Mr. MacIntosh, and their friends and supporters.
This piece was even more juvenile that the diatribe by Freeholder editor Hugo Rodrigues where he tried to frame the 33 year old charity as not a public art gallery!
There is of course a huge difference between CFN and the Seaway News. They profess to practice traditional journalism while CFN doesn’t hide that we’re a “Gonzo” styled newspaper. We focus on opinion and toss out the veneer of objectivity. That being said we still have to tell truths like any media outlet. You can’t make stuff up; and if you’re going to spout any opinion it’s usually wise to actually support that opinion which is what got Claude MacIntosh tossed from the Free Holder.
After all the last piece he ever had published there was a diatribe against….. yours truly.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.
Disclosure: Jamie Gilcig is on the board of TAG Cornwall
A commercial!! Seriously Todd?? And then to suggest that any presenter could instead send an email to city council for further study. An email does not have the same impact as a live presentation, something I guess Todd doesn’t grasp the concept of. The idea of the presentations is not just get the info to city council, but to the residents of Cornwall. The last time I checked emails to city council do not get covered by the local media.
I guess the good thing is that, yes he referred to the TAG presentation, but he was also referring to all presentations. But we all know Todd was gunning for Jaime and TAG. But it does make one wonder why this opinion piece came out after TAG’s presentation. A stone to grind Todd?? And the presentation provided him the opportunity to grind it at the expense of TAG.
I would like to see more presentations from city groups. It would be nice to know what some of them do. At least one every council meeting would be nice.
When Councilor Claude MacIntosh was elected the Seaway News said he would not be covering politics in his “column.” Yes, he doesn’t cover city politics, but he has no problems telling us what he thinks of provincial and / or federal politics. Politics is politics. If he’s not going to cover politics it should be all encompassing, not just city politics, as they are all connected in some way or form.
“Hinky” is being polite when referring to internal leaks. Unless you’re living under a rock you know that Councilor Claude MacIntosh is the “source” the Seaway News refers to in its stories regarding city hall. If The Seaway News had any testicular fortitude they would cut ties with Claude MacIntosh.
Over the many years Cornwall has been going down hill and all because of the click and there are certain mayors that we all know who have been making Cornwall a place that is so laughable that I myself cannot control my laughter especially when my husband insists that we go on a trip to Cornwall and we all explode with laughter around here. Every time my husband sees a Grant Transport truck he says that they are going to move him back to Cornwall and that the town misses him. We are laughing just now with all of his jokes about Cornwall. Nobody moves to Cornwall and everybody is trying to get the hell out – the highest taxes among towns of its size and no work and all there are are crimes, sexual abuse and now Toad Lihou trying to jump into Jamie’s pants. LOL LOO. ROLF! Cornwall never sleeps and always comes up with things to hurt good people like the Vincents and Cadieux families and went on CFRA to advertise getting rid of children’s lemonade stands and selling worms whats next. Cornwall has lost many good people and when they hear such crap going on they get down on their knees and thank the Good Lord that they left.
It’s ironic that Todd singled out TAG. On the city’s webcast of the meeting TAG used up 5 minutes of the ten available to us. He made no mention of the presentation before us of the kids signing the city book that took 17!
Jules, Jules, Jules………………
Get the moving trucks ready Jules is moving back with her family. Cornwall will never be the same. Sorry Jules I couldn’t resist that one.
In regard to the worm kids it seems the worm kids business has been in existence since before the kids were born. So, that begs the question is the worm business really “owned” by the kids or being run as a sideline to supply the kids with spending money?
Yeap, no one ever moves to Cornwall. Sorry, I don’t think so. We moved here a while back and I was reading the CSF about another family that recently moved from Arnprior to open a board shop. Let’s get things straight.
Crimes ands sexual abuse. I didn’t know that that only happened here. You mean crime and sexual assault don’t happen elsewhere?? Let’s get things straight.
And CFRA?? Anything Bell Media owned has to be taken with a grain of salt. Bell has a tendency to slant things to get ratings (& revenue dollars.).
I guess Claude Macintosh “forgot” that he wasn’t supposed to comment on politics. In today’s CSN in his column he comments on the firefighters new 24 hour working day 7 days a month. It’s time for the CSN to either put a muzzle on Claude if he attempts to comment on local politics or an even better solution would be to sever ties with him all together.
HOLD THE PRESSES! Who ever said that your WACKY JULES is moving back to Cornwall. You can believe me when I tell you that my husband thinks about it a lot and he has me laughing so much along with the rest of us that we don’t know whether to hang him or what. LOL LOL. ROLF! No there is nothing in Cornwall for us and he thinks about living in Ingleside or one of those places. Hugger crimes are everywhere but for a tiny place like Cornwall it became mighty notorious. Here in Ottawa where we live we are not far from Heron Gate just a bit further and we are surrounded by all the garbage including very nice people. In the past you would never have heard of these crimes. Ottawa hired 26 more cops because of the guns and gangs and it is mighty bad. This area used to be one of the best and now it is “gang central”.
I see Todd Lihou is retiring from the CSN.
Or failing up like Kevin Lajoie did….
Who said that yours truly Wacky Jules is moving back to Cornwall. Aren’t things bad enough as is in Ottawa. My daughter and her co-workers were talking about that a while ago and everyone got a reduction in hours and are all peeved. The head office is cutting back and making a fortune. I was out all afternoon with my daughter and I am pooped out and in pain. No more walking for a while.
Yesterday I had three very long walks and I am suffering with arthritis and pooped out and I am heading to the sack for more sleep soon. This old gal cannot walk so far like what she used to. Age is creeping up on me. Yesterday I purchased material and a young lady asked me if I was 65 or older for a reduction and I said yes can you see the lines in my face and we all laughed. I am old and tir
Toad is retiring? I guess that Toad is upset because Jamie is the very best and he can’t keep up with him. Jamie tells people like it is and the sheeple can’t take the truth. I wonder what Toad is going to do now – he will soon be permanently without a job since the “lamestream media” is going capoot.
Jamie you should have seen the intelligent people who used to live in Cornhole and all gone. One is that Robert Fisher (Carl Fisher’s son) from the news in Toronto. Plenty and I mean plenty left Cornhole and Cornhole is nothing and all young people have no future and have to leave no matter what education and jobs – leave don’t bury yourselves down there and that is the truth.
My son was telling me a few days ago about businesses that left Corhole and influential people who had them. I said no wonder I didn’t see such and such a place that exists and he told me that nothing lasts in Cornhole. These are very influential people from town and they closed up shop. Cornhole is not a place to live especially not nowadays – it is finished, dead and to be buried.
Jamie you may gradually see Cornhole become a “ghost town” and this is true. Cornhole could never get to 50K of population and is way below 43K with all the sheeple dying and people have left that cursed town for life. Only a mighty few stayed behind but everyone else left. You would be shocked to see all the intelligent people that I knew from way back all gone. You would ask yourself why.
Jamie I wanted to point something out to you and everyone. Businesses are going overseas for cheap and even the taxi dispatching is gone or going over to the Phillipines and this is all true. This is a bit off topic but I thought that I would tell you this. It was in Ottawa’s papers and hubby knows about it and we were talking about all of this this morning. No more bribes of dispatchers.